The detection of semantic illusions: Task-specific effects for similarity and position of distorted terms

Jaarsveld, Henk J. van; Dijkstra, Ton; Hermans, Daan

doi:10.1007/bf00439299

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 14 publications

(49 reference statements)

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“…A critical fi nding in the semantic illusion literature is that as semantic relatedness between a target (e.g., Noah) and foil (e.g., Moses) increases, the likelihood of accepting the foil as true also increases (van Jaarsveld, Dijkstra, & Hermans, 1997 ;Van Oostendorp & De Mul, 1990 ). The effect of semantic relatedness is thought to refl ect increased diffi culty in rejecting memory traces that have high semantic overlap: the greater the semantic overlap between a target and a foil (e.g., Noah/Moses vs. Noah/Adam), the higher the monitoring demands.…”

Section: Symposiummentioning

confidence: 99%

Memory monitoring failure in confabulation: Evidence from the semantic illusion paradigm

Kan

LaRocque

Lafleche

et al. 2010

J Int Neuropsychol Soc

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Several prominent models of confabulation characterize the syndrome as a failure in controlled aspects of memory retrieval, such as pre-retrieval cue specification and post-retrieval monitoring. These models have been generated primarily in the context of studies of autobiographical memory retrieval. Less research has focused on the existence and mechanisms of semantic confabulation. We examined whether confabulation extends to the semantic domain, and if so, whether it could be understood as a monitoring failure. We focus on post-retrieval monitoring by using a verification task that minimizes cue specification demands. We used the semantic illusion paradigm that elicits erroneous endorsement of misleading statements (e.g., "Two animals of each kind were brought onto the Ark by Moses before the great flood") even in controls, despite their knowing the correct answer (e.g., Noah). Monitoring demands were manipulated by varying semantic overlap between target and foils, ranging from high semantic overlap to unrelated. We found that semantic overlap modulated the magnitude of semantic illusion in all groups. Compared to controls, both confabulators and non-confabulators had greater difficulty monitoring semantically related foils; however, elevated endorsement of unrelated foils was unique to confabulators. We interpret our findings in the context of a two-process model of post-retrieval monitoring.

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Section: Symposiummentioning

confidence: 99%

Memory monitoring failure in confabulation: Evidence from the semantic illusion paradigm

Kan

LaRocque

Lafleche

et al. 2010

J Int Neuropsychol Soc

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show abstract

“…Bredart and Docquier (1989) also showed that this effect holds when capitalization of the distorted term is used; however, Kamas, Reder, and Ayers (1996) replicated the study and used a bias-sensitivity analysis to prove that capitalization mainly affected participants' bias towards calling a sentence distorted rather than their sensitivity to distortions. Jaarsveld, Dijkstra, and Hermans (1997) investigated position effects on Moses illusion, but, since they did not include an undistorted condition in their experiments, it remains to be shown that their result was indeed an effect of the manipulation. 19.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpretation-based processing: a unified theory of semantic sentence comprehension

Budiu¹

2004

Cognitive Science

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We present interpretation-based processing-a theory of sentence processing that builds a syntactic and a semantic representation for a sentence and assigns an interpretation to the sentence as soon as possible. That interpretation can further participate in comprehension and in lexical processing and is vital for relating the sentence to the prior discourse. Our theory offers a unified account of the processing of literal sentences, metaphoric sentences, and sentences containing semantic illusions. It also explains how text can prime lexical access. We show that word literality is a matter of degree and that the speed and quality of comprehension depend both on how similar words are to their antecedents in the preceding text and how salient the sentence is with respect to the preceding text. Interpretation-based processing also reconciles superficially contradictory findings about the difference in processing times for metaphors and literals Ambiguity is one feature of human language that often frustrates the attempts to automatize its understanding by computers: not only can words have multiple meanings, but sometimes the meaning of a word is not taken at face value. Everyday language is often nonliteral; figurative devices such as irony, indirect request, metaphor, metonymy, or hyperbole are common and are understood easily. Metaphor is a particularly pervasive device: it is a rich source of new words (recent examples include web and couch potato) and, moreover, according to researchers such

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“…Recent studies have investigated the impact that repeated viewing has on magic tricks relying on perceptual mechanisms that are typically impenetrable to top-down control, and showed that they were considerably more robust to repetition than tricks based on attentional misdirection (Svalebjørg, Øhrn, & Ekroll, 2020). In the Moses illusion, the detection rates are higher under instructions that stress accuracy (Van Jaarsveld, Dijkstra, & Hermans, 1997). When participants are only required to monitor for distortions rather than answer the questions, more inconsistencies are detected (Kamas et al, 1996).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The magician’s choice: Providing illusory choice and sense of agency with the equivoque forcing technique.

Pailhès¹,

Kumari

Kuhn³

2021

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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Forcing techniques allow magicians to subtly influence spectators' choices and the outcome of their actions, and they provide powerful tools to study decision-making and the illusory sense of agency and freedom over choices we make. We investigate the Equivoque force, a technique that exploits semantic ambiguities and people's failure to notice inconsistencies, to ensure that a spectator ends up with a predetermined outcome. Similarly to choice blindness paradigms, the Equivoque forces participants to end up with an item they did not choose in the first place. However, here, the subterfuge is accomplished in full view. In three experiments, we showed that the Equivoque is highly effective in providing participants an illusory sense of agency over the outcome of their actions, even after two repetitions of the trick (experiment 2), and using items for which pre-existing preferences can be present (experiment 3). Across all experiments, participants were oblivious to inconsistencies in the procedure used to guide their decisions, and they were genuinely surprised by the experimenter's matching prediction. Contrary to our prediction, the Equivoque force did not significantly change participants' preference for the chosen item. We discuss the results with regards to other illusions of agency (e.g. forcing, choice blindness), failures in noticing semantic inconsistencies (e.g Moses illusion), and issues surrounding choice-induced-preference literature.

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The detection of semantic illusions: Task-specific effects for similarity and position of distorted terms

Cited by 13 publications

References 14 publications

Memory monitoring failure in confabulation: Evidence from the semantic illusion paradigm

Memory monitoring failure in confabulation: Evidence from the semantic illusion paradigm

Interpretation-based processing: a unified theory of semantic sentence comprehension

The magician’s choice: Providing illusory choice and sense of agency with the equivoque forcing technique.

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